The British Centres for Business in partnership with Santander UK hosted a webinar to talk about retail opportunities in the UAE, particularly for ‘lifestyle brands’. More than 50 online participants joined the webinar. Monika Gajek, Strategic Alliances Manager at Santander UK, welcomed the participants and moderated the webinar.
Sukjeevan Nat, Head of Retail & Wholesale Banking for Santander shared his thoughts about the retail market in the UK and the support available to UK companies and Santander clients for internationalization through partnerships in other markets, such as the one with the BCB in the UAE.
I provided an overview of the UAE retail market and the opportunities available to UK companies and then moderated a panel discussion with guest speakers Yuri Myronov, Department Manager for Home & Children, Galeries Lafayette and Danielle Riach, Buyer Home & Beauty for Namshi. The speakers discussed trends in the UAE, their customer profiles, buying cycles, growth in online retail, and more. The speakers also answered questions from participants.
The BCB and Santander are organising a trade mission to the UAE for 17th – 19th September. Following the webinar we will be selecting businesses based on interest from prospective buyers.
The selection process will be completed before the end of July, and it will be communicated to successful delegates.
